I ♥ Etsy!

                           

Tonight I was feelin' blue. But not in a bad way. More in a light hearted, I want to fly away kind of way. Like a bird. Like a blue bird. (could have something to do with the fact that I finished a HUGE chapter of my thesis today. Woo-hoo!)

Inspired by my new flippy, flappy, airy, light headed heartedness, I decided to peruse Etsy for some pretty little blue birds. Enjoy!

1. Bluebird...necklace by Stacey Winters (you must check out the other things in her shop. so cute!)

2. Heart Squirrel and Bluebird Tree by Sugar Elf (SO adorable!)
3. Brie and the Bluebirds by Candace Jean (I have a soft spot for artwork featuring sad girls with big eyes)
4. Blue Bird, Bird Sculpture 199 by Paper Cottage (isn't he great?)
5. Mushroom Woodland Sculpture by Becky Kazana (I LOVE this little sculpture)
6. You Can Be When I Am Gone Print by The Little Fox (once again, sad girl, big eyes)
7. Bluebird by JBird Home (how precious is he?)

"It is what you read when you don't have to...

     

...that determines what you will be when you can't help it."  ~Oscar Wilde (Source)

Forgive me as I slip into geekdom for a moment...

Remember libraries? You know, those places with shelves with things on them called books? Yeah, those things, with covers and pages. You probably went to libraries once a week in elementary school for story time. You listened to the librarian read Mrs. Piggle Wiggle or Amelia Bedelia while the boys played with your hair.* And at the end you would check out joke books and ghost stories. Or maybe you were fortunate enough to have a mom who would take you to the town library before you were old enough for elementary school. 

Remember how great they smelled? Like old books. 

Remember how intimidating the librarian was, seated behind her big wooden desk, wielding the all-mighty and powerful stamp? 

Remember how exciting it felt to have a library book to read, and the thrill of the challenge of trying to finish it before it was due?

Ah... libraries. I came across this picture today from Factory 20 via the blog Modish Vintage, which I came across by way of  We ♥ Indie. (Yes, I took another journey around the internet. Yes, I was procrastinating again. So?) Which is what inspired this post.

 How cool is that stamp rack (not to be confused with tramp stamp)?

I have to be honest with you, I fear for the future of our libraries. I imagine something along the lines of what can be seen in The Time Machine where libraries no longer exist and we have to get our information from Orlando Jones. With the introduction of technology like Kindle and the iPad, I wonder if we are nearing a day when books will become obsolete. 

Just last year (or maybe it was two years ago now... three? Time is so tricky lately), the library at the elementary school I was working at was going through a process of bar coding all their books and integrating a scanning system. As a result, the card catalogs were no longer useful and were being disposed of. The librarian asked me if I had any use for them. I wish I had taken a moment to really think about it before I said no, but I didn't, so I said no. I regret it now. Just imagine all the things you could do with an old wooden card catalog....

The possibilities are endless and I cringe to think that I passed up the chance to own some history. Shame on me. Here are some pics of card catalogs and other library artifacts I fell in love with:

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* Everyone experienced this, right? RIGHT?! Nowadays I imagine this would be grounds for a sexual harassment suit. I can just see poor little Lucas now as he's being hauled off by the cops, muttering in awe, "but it's so soft... so soft...".

UPDATE: If you are a resident of New York State and would like to "take action" against the elimination of funding to public libraries, follow this link, New York Library Association.

The Little Blonde Girl.

Once upon a time there was a little blonde girl who had a lot of work to do. The little blonde girl hated doing her work and tried to find any excuse she could to avoid it. One day, the little blonde girl went on a journey through the big wide blogging world. Along the way she met numerous creative and inspiring people. She discovered wonderful new places- some pretty, some scary, but all of them exciting.

Eventually, the little blonde girl decided that she had to return home again and continue with her work, even though she was enjoying her journey so much. Along her way home, the little blonde girl came across some paper clippings. Her curiosity was piqued when she noticed more and more of them. It appeared the clippings were leading down a side path through the woods. Since the little blonde girl wasn't really in any hurry to get home, she followed the path. At the end of the path, there was a small clearing. In the clearing was a stage of the kind you would find in a grand old theater.

Upon the stage, behind the thick, red velvet curtains, were the most beautiful things the little blonde girl had ever seen...

The little blonde girl had discovered the glorious, macabre wonders of the Silhouette Masterpiece Theatre. While enjoying the delights of the theater, the little blonde girl barely noticed the time pass. When she was finished viewing, the little blonde girl glanced up at the sky and noticed that the sun had all but disappeared.

Panicked, the little blonde girl bid farewell to the cast of characters upon the darkening stage and frantically ran through the woods, back to her home where, much to the little blonde girl's dismay, her work was still waiting for her, uncompleted.

The End.

Wood-n't you like to know.

  

Wood grain, or faux bois, seems to be all the rage right now, which kind of, sort of, makes me shudder. Having grown up in a house (on top of a mountain. in the middle of the woods) that was built and decorated in the early '80s, I know how dark, frightening and cave-like wood grain can be. That being said, I actually really ♥ these items:

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I ♥ Etsy! The family edition

  

I come from a family of very talented and crafty individuals. I am about to partake in some shameless plugging of the familial kind (that actually sounds dirty and really wrong. Maybe by the time I'm done writing this I can come up with some better wording). Here goes...

This is my mom
(and Owen B'dowen or is it Benny Bugger? Crap! They look so much alike!)

She's on Etsy. You can find her shop, Adirondack Crafts, here. For as long as I can remember, my mom has been sewing. Whether it be Halloween costumes, clothes for our Cabbage Patch Kid dolls or clothes for my sisters and I. In fact, I have a vivid recollection of a shirt I had to have my mom make for me. One of my bestest friends in the whole wide world had this really cool striped shirt. I wanted one too. We hunted and hunted for the perfect fabric (it was perfect to me, me with no concept of how to sew or that any one fabric is more difficult to sew than another. I'm pretty sure my mom was pretty hesistent about it). I was so excited. So my mom whipped up the shirt, and.... the stripes were going the wrong way. I was devestated. I cannot recall if I threw a fit about this or not, but knowing me, I suspect that I did. Thanks anyway, Mom.

Nowadays, my mom sews for the grand kids and for baby showers and what have you. She also makes these little Adirondack* inspired balsam pillows that are available at her Etsy shop. Here are a couple of examples...

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This is my step dad  
(with classic step dad face)

He is also on Etsy. He shares a shop with my mom, Adirondack Crafts, that you can find here. He is one of the most talented men I have ever known. He builds stuff. Lots of stuff. He has, in fact, built me a jewelry box, two bookshelves and a coat rack. Not to mention numerous things for my siblings. I don't know how he puts up with us and our crazy demands, but he does, and we love him for that. 

My step dad was recently laid off (it's a tough world out there right now for carpenters. Please don't tell him I told you this, though, he's a very proud *ahem* stubborn man). He is currently making some really great wooden cutting boards and recipe boxes (he cuts and mills his own wood! I told you he was awesome, right?) that are available at the Etsy shop. Here are a couple of examples...

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This is my sister  

(last one, I promise. Isn't she just the cutest?)

 

She also has a shop on Etsy (duh, that's what this post is all about). You can find her shop, SMWartworks, here. She also has a website** featuring her other work. You can find a link to it on the right hand side of my blog under the heading, "Things I Think are Pretty." My sister has always been artistically inclined and has a BA in Metals, or something along those lines. My family and I look forward to Christmas every year just to score some of her handcrafted goodies, whether it be jewelry or a tear-jerking charcoal portrait.

My sister makes really cool silver jewelry, available at her Etsy shop. She recently moved to Maine and has started making seaglass jewelry out of genuine seaglass that she picks up from the beach in her own backyard, on the ocean! Lucky girl. If I had a job right now, I'd buy a good number of pieces from her. I'm not kidding. It's that cool. Here are a couple of examples, or four, whatever...

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* don't tell my mom, but I'm personally not a fan of the whole "Adirondack" style. I do however, like things that remind me of the Adirondacks. Click here.

** this website is currently under construction and may not be available yet. My sis is trying to find a new, cheaper host, or something like that. I don't pretend to understand. Check back later if the link doesn't work. 

UPDATE: I just clicked on the link mentioned above for my sister's website and discovered that it takes you to her NEW blog! You can probably find your way to her website through that, eventually.

Visions of a lonely girl...

       

A few years back, I was living in Saratoga Springs, or maybe hiding out would be more accurate. I was substitute teaching during the days and waitressing during the evenings and weekends. I had just run away from a particularly rough patch in my life. I was wrecked. I was broken. I was trying to recover, reflect and reassess. During this time, I was experiencing a lot of moments of solitary loneliness. It was also during this time that I was first introduced to Etsy, which I ♥, and the art work of Kendra Binney. 

I immediately connected with her haunting images. The sadness and wistful despair of her subjects deeply affected me. Her style spoke to me and the colors in her work cried out to me. I had to have it. I spent days figuring out which reproductions I wanted, which ones would work in my collection. I settled on five pieces and made my purchase. It was the first time I had ever purchased real art before (while they were reproductions of paintings, they were also personally made by the artist). I couldn't wait for them to arrive!

Years later, I still have the pieces hanging on my wall. Kendra no longer has a shop on Etsy, but still sells her work through her website. It seems she has become quite established and has moved on to bigger and better things (I'm grateful I discovered her early on as the price for her reproductions have doubled, in some cases, tripled since I made my purchase). Her work opened my eyes to a whole world of art I had never been exposed to before, Contemporary Art. And I'm talking about real contemporary art. Art that real people are making in real time. Her work moved my knowledge of art forward, and I haven't looked back (sorry, "Master's," but your art is soooo last century).

Congratulations on all your success, Kendra, and thank you for introducing me to a new world of art and expression.

 

on display in my room

They Can Do As They Wish, 2006

 

This Place is Full of Lost Monsters, 2006

Empty, 2006

Dream of Being Underwater, 2006

Lie, 2006

Please take a moment to check out Kendra Binney's website. Her worked has evolved over the years since my purchases and it really shouldn't be missed.

I ♥ Etsy! The Anti-Valentine Edition (part 2)

  

(Well, as promised, here's part 2 of my I ♥ Etsy! The Anti-Valentine Edition. You can find part 1 here. Enjoy!)

Tiny Spiny Pincushion Necklace

by twigsandheather 

I really like the uniqueness of this. With

all the heart pendents out there, this one
is pretty while still expressing the pain and
heartache that comes with love.

Twigs and Heather are twins! I love that.
They've been working with metal for almost
ten years. You must read their
Shop Announcement. They're green!

 

Broken, signed edition

by nicholasbartle

I really enjoy the plain, whiteness of this photo.

It's simple, but the message is quite clear.

Nicholas Bartle's profile provides very little

information, but if you check out his website,

you'll discover a collection of very

intriguing images.

You don't die of a broken heart...

by stevenbrisson

I really like the heart suggestion here, and I'm a sucker
for a black and white photograph. Of course, the
wood element takes me back to my roots.

Steven Brisson is another shop whose profile
explains very little, but if you take a moment to
check out his website, you'll find a collection of
some of the most touching photos I've ever seen.

Broken Heart Wall Art
by lucky7steel

I'm so in love with this piece. I would love
to hang this on a blue, or maybe a brick wall.

Lucky 7 Steel makes some great pieces out of
"mild and recycled steel."

Tiny Brown Owl with Broken Heart
by theupstairsroom

Seriously, how cute is this little guy?
And to top it off, he's brown and blue,
my favorite colors!

The Upstairs Room (I adore that title)
creates the cutest little "oddities." She's
also a new blogger, and you can find
her blog here.